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The one man who isn't happy to see the Higgs boson

Stephen Hawking loses $100 bet over whether the particle existed.

By Caroline Crampton Published 05 July 2012 9:58
Professor Stephen Hawking
Professor Stephen Hawking.

Most of the world indulged in full-on "Higgs-teria" yesterday, as Cern announced that they had found a particle that bears all the hallmarks of the Higgs boson.

However, there's one man who won't be quite so pleased. Professor Stephen Hawking has lost a 48-year-old bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University over whether the Higgs boson exists, and is now $100 out of pocket. Watch him explain here:

It's his smile at the end that really does it.

 
 

4 comments

Ivan Nikolov's picture

Fri, 2012-07-13 10:24 — Ivan Nikolov (not verified)

He will continue his life even without 100$ :)
Best Regards, Nikolov

WNNWS's picture

Mon, 2012-07-09 16:25 — WNNWS (not verified)

Technically, he also lost to Marshall Barnes - http://www.prlog.org/11914207-higgs-boson-announcement-shines-light-on-s...

peterr's picture

Thu, 2012-07-05 14:34 — peterr (not verified)

So your headline writer actually thinks that Hawkings' happiness has more relation to winning or losing $100 than to his estimation of the likely physics progress based on the detail of what has been discovered? I knew British academics were badly paid, but did not realize it was quite that bad. Maybe the smart ones who really understand physics are all opting out of academia in order to write headlines for NS. And the profits from Hawkings' books are all going to the bloody publishers!

darchand's picture

Sat, 2012-07-07 07:52 — darchand

Yeah, confusing headline. He actually smiled when he 'said' he had lost $100, so I don't think he was too cut up about it.

His disappointment had more to do with getting an 'expected' result, and confirming the standard model.

The $100 bet though is a nice anecdote - certainly humanises all this abstract physics a little, and makes it (and Hawking) more relatable to the rest of us.

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